She’ll bring the sign on a bus Friday night, traveling along with 34 other students from the Met High School in Providence to Washington, D.C. overnight. The group will participate in the March for Our Lives Saturday, a student-led demonstration for gun control laws, organized in the wake of the deadly mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida last month.

“You never know where it can happen,” said Marilyn Resto, the student who made the sign.

Many of the students are not yet old enough to vote, making do for now with their voices. Malitey Mullings, who is 17, said this was a chance to fight for legislation that seems like common sense to her.

“At 18 we’re not even allowed to drink,” Mullings said. “So if we’re not allowed to drink, why should we be able to fire a gun?”

She questioned why responsible gun owners would not be on board with the changes.

“I think a lot of people who have a problem with this movement…think that we’re trying to take away something from them,” Mullings said. “When really, it’s just about making sure people who shouldn’t have them, not have them.”

Another group of about 100 students from the Providence Student Union are also traveling overnight to Washington to join the march, which was organized by Stoneman Douglas students just days after they survived the mass shooting.

Some the victims’ families, along with surviving shooting victims, traveled on the New England Patriots plane to get to Washington for the march. Patriots Owner Robert Kraft donated the plane, sending it to Fort Lauderdale to pick up the passengers. The plane will return on Sunday.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — Calling it her “top priority this year,” Gov. Gina Raimondo testified in support of a school bonding measure Thursday that would ask voters to approve $250 million to repair or rebuild aging school buildings across the state.

Raimondo spoke before the House Finance Committee, which is considering the borrowing plan as part of Raimondo’s budget proposal. She asked lawmakers to put it on the ballot this November. If passed, the $250 million would be borrowed over five years.

“It’s time that we come together and do the right thing to rebuild our schools,” Raimondo told the committee.

Raimondo, a Democrat, typically saves in-person testimony for high-priority agenda items. The last time she testified before a committee was in 2017, for her Rhode Island Promise scholarship program that would give two years of free college to Rhode Islanders. A scaled-back version of her original proposal ended up becoming law.

The school buildings proposal would combine the $250 million from the bonds with existing state and city funds, for a total of $1 billion invested in school buildings over the five years, according to the governor’s office.

In her testimony, Raimondo brought up a recent cold snap that led to burst pipes and other weather-related damage at schools earlier this winter, forcing some to close for multiple days.

“This is about making sure that every single school in every single community is warm, safe and dry,” Raimondo said, adding that the crumbling buildings are not unique to urban schools.

”There are schools falling apart in every single school district,” she said. “It’s East Greenwich, it’s Johnston, it’s Providence, it’s Portsmouth.”

The school construction plan came out of a task force formed last year after the Jacobs consulting firm released a study showing $627 million is needed to reach the “warm, safe and dry” criteria for Rhode Island public schools. $2.2 billion would be needed to bring schools to good condition.

“There is a cost to not doing more and not investing up front,” said General Treasurer Seth Magaziner, who co-chaired the School Buidling Task Force with Education Commissioner Ken Wagner.

Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza also testified before the committee, describing buckets collecting dripping rainwater at some Providence schools, and students bundled in winter coats due to poor insulation and dysfunctional heating systems.

”We are not investing in [kids] in the way that we should,” Elorza said.

Bill Murray, the mayor of Cumberland and vice-president of the Rhode Island League of Cities and Towns, also testified in support.

“Safe and clean schools are important for our children,” Murray said. He lamented the fact that school building maintenance has been neglected over the years, leading to the problem at hand.

House Minority Leader Patricia Morgan, who is also running for the Republican nomination for the governor, expressed skepticism about the funding for the school buildings plan.

“It’s not responsible,” she said in an interview with Eyewitness News. “We need to find other ways to budget.”

“Absolutely, we need to repair schools,” Morgan said. “I think there are better ways to do it.” She suggested foregoing $23 million in proposed bonds to help construct a new PawSox stadium, and putting the money towards school buildings instead.

Morgan also said she is introducing a bill to exempt school building repair and replacement from state prevailing wage requirements.

The school buildings plan is part of the budget being considered by the General Assembly for the fiscal year starting July 1. If passed, the bond would be on the ballot for voters this November.

PROVIDENCE, R.I (WPRI) – Demonstrators supportive of the environment and clean waters swarmed a meeting of the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management on Wednesday, asking the federal employees there not to allow companies to drill for oil and gas off of Rhode Island’s coastline.

The BOEM was in Providence to take public comment on a proposal by President Trump and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to open up 90% of offshore waters to oil and gas drilling. The drilling was banned in most of the nation’s waters under the Obama administration.

“Not on our watch,” Gov. Gina Raimondo said in a news conference before the meeting. “We’re going to stand up and make sure it doesn’t happen.”

“Opening up nearly all U.S. coasts to offshore drilling is an enormous leap back to the time when our energy policies turned a blind eye to pollution,” said Rep. Lauren Carson, a Democrat who represents Newport.

Protesters chanting “no drill, no spill” marched from the State House to the Marriott hotel, where the BOEM meeting was happening Wednesday afternoon. Demonstrators said they were concerned about oil rigs polluting Rhode Island waters, disrupting the fishing industry and possibly causing an oil spill.

“It’s a scary thought,” said Joel Gates of Glocester, a member of Save the Bay. “Hopefully it won’t happen, but we have to make sure our voices are heard.”

Bill Brown, chief environmental officer for BOEM, said the public comments taken from all the states would be part of a report and analysis conducted by BOEM for the Interior Department.

Brown said it was possible BOEM would recommend not to allow drilling in the waters off certain states, including Rhode Island.

“We’re here to listen, gather environmental information, do an analysis and environmental impact statement,” Brown said. “And for the purpose of really seeing whether some areas should be excluded from development.”

Brown said there is a lot of enthusiasm for offshore drilling in Alaska and Gulf Coast states, and more opposition in Atlantic states.

The draft proposal by the Interior Department is broad, including more than 90% of the country’s Outer Continental Shelf available to lease to oil and gas companies. But Brown said the final proposal could be more limited.

It’s unclear if there is interest from oil companies in drilling off Rhode Island, or if oil is even available there. Brown said no one has examined in decades whether there is oil off the New England coast.

Republican candidate for governor Patricia Morgan said she would not support offshore drilling in Rhode Island, but added that she thought it was unlikely that oil rigs would come to the Ocean State.

“I wouldn’t be in favor of it,” Morgan said. “We have to protect our fishing industry.”

Joe Trillo, the Republican-turned-independent candidate for governor who was President Trump’s honorary campaign chairperson for Rhode Island, also said he would not want to see drilling off Rhode Island’s shores.

Republican candidate Allan Fung’s campaign manager said Fung was not commenting on the proposed offshore drilling.

GOP candidate Giovanni Feroce was the most open to the proposal, saying he didn’t think Rhode Island should be against offshore drilling.

”In Rhode Island we should concentrate on supporting the industry by having companies here manufacture equipment, train workers and provide vessels carrying supplies to the operations,” Feroce said.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — A bill to take firearms away from people deemed at risk for violence has the support of House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello, a Democrat who was endorsed by the National Rifle Association in 2016.

The bill was introduced Friday by Rep. Dennis Canario and co-sponsored by other representatives, including Mattiello. Gov. Gina Raimondo also announced Friday she would sign an executive order on Monday to institute the so-called “red flag” policy on a temporary basis while lawmakers debate the policy in the General Assembly.

“The tragedy in Parkland has renewed the urgency once again for states to take action to prevent gun violence,” Raimondo said in a statement. “On Monday I will sign an Executive Order establishing a statewide red flag policy that will take effect immediately, but we still need to pass legislation so these protections are in place permanently.”

The bill was recommended by the Rhode Island Police Chiefs’ Association, whose executive director said police are often told about a person’s concerning behavior, but can’t do anything until a crime is actually committed.

“I believe that the Second Amendment’s an important constitutional right,” Mattiello said. “However, kids are being shot in schools. So that gives you pause, and makes you think about it and you have to try and find the most effective ways of dealing with it.”

“It easily could have helped avert that tragedy,” Mattiello added.

The bill would create an “extreme risk protective order,” which a court could impose on a person who “is an imminent danger to cause personal injury to self or others by having access to a firearm.”

A family member, household member, police or the attorney general’s office would be able to petition the Superior Court for the extreme risk protective order. A hearing would be held on the matter within 21 days, but a temporary order could be put in place while awaiting the hearing.

If a judge certifies the order, the person would need to surrender his or her guns for a year. The court could extend the order after that, and the person would have a chance every year to petition to get his or her firearms back.

“I think it would be a real, practical way to protect our children,” Mattiello said.

People convicted of certain crimes are banned by federal law from possessing firearms, but police have lamented their inability to remove guns from a person who exhibits red flags but has not yet committed a crime.

“What we see as a challenge is when we receive this information – very concerning information – there is really no tool in place for us to prevent those individuals from possessing a firearm or going out and obtaining a firearm,” Jamestown Police Chief Edward Mello told Eyewitness News on Thursday.

“This legislation is a way to stop tragedies before they happen,” said Sen. Maryellen Goodwin, D-Providence, who plans to introduce similar legislation in the Senate on Tuesday. “Of course someone who has guns and is making serious threats to harm people with them should not be armed.”

Prior to the Florida shooting, the National Rifle Association had opposed red flag legislation proposed in other states. The NRA did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Rhode Island’s red flag proposal.

The NRA has donated $3,675 to Mattiello’s campaigns since 2006, endorsed his most recent re-election campaign and rated his stance on gun rights an A+. Asked if he was fine with potentially losing NRA support, Mattiello said he was more concerned about the public.

Frank Saccoccio from the Rhode Island 2nd Amendment Coalition said he thinks the idea for the red flag bill is a good one, but he would need to read through the specific language before taking a position.

Steven Brown, the executive director of the ACLU, said the Rhode Island chapter would be reviewing the legislation next week to determine if there are any civil rights issues.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — With the imminent and unprecedented expulsion of a sitting senator avoided Thursday by that senator’s resignation, a local watchdog group is urging Rhode Island lawmakers to come up with a set of rules for the process moving forward.

Senator Nicholas Kettle submitted a resignation letter Thursday amid criminal allegations of video voyeurism and extortion. Senate leaders had filed legislation to expel him on Wednesday, after calling for his resignation since his arrest late last week.

The Rhode Island constitution allows the Senate and House to expel members with a two-thirds majority, but the article has never been used in recorded state history.

“This situation could happen again,” said John Marion, the executive director of good-government group Common Cause Rhode Island. “They need to be prepared for the next time.”

The constitution is broad, giving each chamber the power to punish its own, and “with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a member; but not a second time for the same cause.” The 175-year-old document is silent on how lawmakers should go about expelling a member, or what sort of behavior is worthy of the punishment.

Senate President Dominick Ruggerio first mentioned expulsion on Monday, after a grand jury indictment was unsealed charging Kettle with allegedly extorting a Senate page for sex back in 2011. On Wednesday, after Kettle had still not resigned, Senate leadership filed legislation to expel him from the chamber, setting a hearing on the matter for Tuesday. Kettle was told he would be able to defend himself.

“What we discovered is they were sort of making up the process as they went along,” Marion said in an interview Thursday. “It’s clear they hadn’t thought about how they were going to come to a conclusion about the standard that they have to apply.”

The legislation detailed a list of “bad behavior” including campaign finance violations, in addition to the criminal charges against Kettle. Other lawmakers in the House are currently subject to campaign finance violations, Marion mentioned, and have not been punished by their chamber.

Marion said other state legislatures have a special committee to investigate alleged misconduct and produce a public report recommending for or against expelling a member.

“If you have a good process, a transparent process in place, then people aren’t going to raise those questions like they did this time.”

Some of those questions came from the ACLU of Rhode Island, which sent a letter to Ruggerio on Tuesday expressing alarm about the apparent speed in which leadership was considering expulsion.

“As serious as the criminal charges are, so too is the act of expelling a democratically elected legislator from the seat he earned from the voters of his district,” executive director Steven Brown wrote in the letter.

Lawmakers expressed concerns about the safety of the current student pages as part of their explanation for the quick expulsion proceedings.

Ruggerio said Thursday Kettle’s decision to resign was “in the best interest of the Senate and the state.”

“I am grateful that Mr. Kettle has chosen a path that avoids requiring his colleagues to consider expulsion,” Ruggerio said in a statement.

Kettle has denied the charges against him, and his attorney Priscilla DiMaio said Thursday he was resigning in order to focus on his criminal defense, not because of the pending expulsion proceedings.

In his resignation letter, Kettle said: “I am extremely disappointed in Senate Leadership on both sides of the aisle because Mr. Algiere and Mr. Ruggerio do not appear to understand the importance of due process as a cornerstone of our legal system.”

Senate President Dominick Ruggerio has threatened to hold a vote to expel Kettle if he doesn’t resign – a move that has led the ACLU to urge caution.

Kettle was charged Monday with two counts of extortion, after an unsealed secret grand jury indictment revealed accusations that he extorted a Senate page for sex back in 2011. The indictment said he threatened and attempted to compel the teenager to commit a sexual act.

“I am furious that Senator Kettle has not already resigned,” said Sen. Gayle Goldin, D-Providence. “If he does not do so, I will certainly vote in favor of his expulsion.”

“It’s beyond the pale,” said Sen. Jim Seveney, D-Portsmouth. “It’s just not to be tolerated.”

Republican Senate Minority Leader Dennis Algiere joined Ruggerio in calling for Kettle to resign, as did Republican Senator Thomas Paolino. The other two Republicans in the chamber, Mark Gee and Elaine Morgan, have not yet responded to requests for comment.

“If the allegations are true, those alone would require Senator Kettle to resign,” Paolino said.

The Coventry Town Republican Committee, which has about 30 members, also said it would vote to expel Kettle from its membership if he does not resign voluntarily.

“As a representative of Coventry and a constituent of the senator, I am deeply disappointed,” said GOP Rep. Bobby Nardolillo, who is also a candidate for U.S. Senate. “I feel strongly it’s in the best interests of Senate District 21 for Mr. Kettle to resign his position.”

The Senate is on break this week, but a spokesperson said a vote to expel the senator could be held as early as next week.

Eyewitness News reached out to each of the 36 sitting senators – Kettle is the 37th, and one seat is vacant – to ask how they would vote if expulsion is on the table. Twenty senators said they would vote “yes,” one senator said she was undecided, and 15 senators have not yet replied to inquiries. None of the senators who responded to Eyewitness News said they would vote against expulsion.

The Constitution requires a two-thirds majority vote to expel a senator. A spokesperson said the Senate’s legal counsel was determining the procedure, including whether Kettle would be included in the tally. If so, 25 senators would need to vote in favor of expulsion.

The ACLU of Rhode Island entered the conversation Tuesday, sending a letter to Ruggerio urging the leadership to take a slow approach to an expulsion vote.

“As serious as the criminal charges are, so too is the act of expelling a democratically elected legislator from the seat he earned from the voters of his district,” executive director Steven Brown wrote in the letter.

State Librarian Megan Hamlin-Black said her office could find no records of any Senate or House member being expelled from their chambers, although the state constitution clearly allows the practice. She said the R.I. State Archives also had no record of the expulsion article being used.

In an interview with Eyewitness News, Brown said the ACLU does not have a position on whether Kettle should be expelled, but they believe the Senate should adopt rules before using the provision for the first time.

“There may be a very principled reason why the Senate is acting now to try to initiate these expulsion proceedings.” Brown said. “But if you don’t have standards in place ahead of time, the door is open for all sorts of mischief down the road.”

He said examples of procedures that could be adopted include holding a hearing, presenting evidence and allowing a member to defend him or herself before a vote takes place.

Kettle was first arrested on Friday on the video voyeurism charge, in which state police allege he sent nude photos of his girlfriend to a friend without her consent. The grand jury indictment on the two extortion charges involving the former Senate page also came down on Friday. He pleaded not guilty to the extortion charges, and his attorneys claimed the allegations were part of a “political witch hunt,” because the young man later ran against Kettle for his Senate seat.

Ruggerio ordered a review of the page program in light of the allegations. The program employs students aged 15 and up to assist lawmakers with paperwork and other duties at the State House.

COVENTRY, R.I. (WPRI) — State Sen. Nicholas Kettle allegedly sent nude photos of his girlfriend to a friend in exchange for similar photos of the friend’s wife, according to a court document obtained by Eyewitness News.

The state police affidavit, filed in Kent County District Court, lays out the case for a video voyeurism charge against Kettle. He was arrested on the charge on Friday after an investigation that involved the seizure of multiple cell phones, iPads and computers.

The case is separate from two extortion charges filed against Kettle. Those stem from a secret grand jury indictment that was unsealed Monday.

In the video voyeurism affidavit, State Police Detective Robert Hopkins says Kettle’s girlfriend at the time came into the State Police barracks with Kettle’s iPad, which he had left at her house. She said she found text messages on it between Kettle and a friend, in which Kettle shared nude photos of the girlfriend.

“He sent explicit pictures of now I believe his ex-girlfriend to another subject out of state without her knowledge,” Lt. Col. Joseph Philbin said.

The photos, according to the affidavit, all showed the girlfriend looking in the other direction. She said she had no idea the photos were taken.

According to the affidavit, Kettle sent the friend photos of his girlfriend while the friend sent nude photos of his wife. The two met in the Boy Scouts, according to Kettle’s girlfriend.

“Mr. Kettle stated that he needed to be ‘stealthy’ and was asking [the friend] for advice on how to take a video without [his girlfriend] knowing,” Detective Hopkins writes in the document. Hopkins also said the text messages with the nude photos had been deleted from Kettle’s iPhone, but had synced to other devices including his iPad via iCloud.

Police also executed a search warrant at Kettle’s friend’s house in New Hampshire, seizing his electronic devices.

Kettle was arraigned by a justice of the peace on one count of video voyeurism on Friday. An arraignment in Kent County District Court has not yet been scheduled.

Kettle’s attorney, Paul DiMaio, said he doesn’t believe the facts of the case amount to video voyeurism because the statute requires the photos be taken for “sexual gratification.”

In a separate case Monday, Kettle was indicted on two counts of extortion, accused of threatening and attempting to compel a Senate page to have sex with him. Both the Democratic and Republican leaders of the Senate have called for his resignation, and said they would support a vote to expel him from the Senate.

EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — Police seized the contents of former doctor Clive Bridgham’s safety deposit box including jewelry and other documents while investigating his murder, according to a search warrant affidavit obtained by Eyewitness News.

The affidavit, requesting a warrant to search and seize items from Bridgham’s TD Bank safety deposit box, says a detective “believes evidence of great value relating to the horrific homicide of Clive Bridgham may be contained within said TD Bank Safe Deposit Box #1” located a Barrington bank branch.

The warrant was granted, and police seized the contents in the box, which were listed as $7200 cash, assorted antique jewelry, Dr. Bridgham’s will, dated 8/6/2002, and assorted documents.

It’s unclear of what value the items are to the investigation. Police have not released a motive for the alleged murder, for which 21-year-old Owen Morris is charged.

Police discovered the existence of the safety deposit box during their search of Bridgham’s home, according to the new affidavit. “Detectives found a red envelope labeled with “TD Bank”…on one side and “#1″ written on the other side. Contained inside the small envelope were 2 silver colored keys,” the document says.

The request to search the box, including the statement that the items could be of “great value” to the investigation was made on Jan. 31, after Morris was charged with the murder.

Morris’ attorneys are slated to hold a status conference in Superior Court on Tuesday to determine his next court date. Morris has not yet entered a plea, and his case is pending indictment.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – Two years after Gov. Gina Raimondo signed her signature RhodeWorks bill into law, her administration will begin constructing toll gantries to collect cash from large commercial trucks that use Rhode Island’s highways.

The first two toll gantries will begin going up on Monday in Hopkinton and Exeter on I-95, according to the Rhode Island Department of Transportation. A number of lanes will be closed during the process, and there will be a brief overnight highway closure.

Fourteen total toll locations are planned, as part of the RhodeWorks law that passed in 2016. The 10-year road-and-bridge repair plan calls for collecting truck tolls to pay for the costs of rebuilding and rehabilitating the state’s crumbling infrastructure. Work on many of those projects has already begun.

RIDOT and Raimondo have argued that large tractor-trailer trucks do the most damage to Rhode Island roads, and therefore should contribute to fixing them. The trucking industry has fought back, consistently threatening to sue the state as soon as the first toll is collected.

“Everything up to this point has been conjecture and spin by RIDOT and Governor Raimondo,” said Chris Maxwell, the president of the RI Trucking Association, on Friday. “They now face their biggest challenge in a court of law and we’re ready to roll!!!”

“We have been prepared for three years for any challenges to this,” RIDOT Director Peter Alviti said. “We expect that we will succeed in defending any challenge.”

Alviti says the toll gantries that will go up next week will go through a month of testing before the automated system begins charging trucks that drive under them, either through an EZ Pass transponder or by billing the truck driver by their license plate.

The price for Toll 1 in Hopkinton and Toll 2 in Exeter will be $3.25 and $3.50, respectively. The rest of the tolls gantries are slated to go up gradually over the next 18 months.

Next week, daytime single-lane closures are scheduled on I-95 North and South Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the two tolling locations. The first location is one mile north of Exit 2, and the other is three miles south of Exit 5.

The highway will be temporarily fully closed from approximately 1-3 a.m. Thursday and Friday, while the installation of the actual gantries occurs. RIDOT says “rolling roadblocks” will be used, by lowering the speed limit to 25 mph.